Friday, September 30, 2011

A day in the life...

Yikes! Do you know how old Dylan is?? Well, if you don't, I'll let him remind you:



I can't believe how fast he's growing up. I try to be good and make note of the things he can do and what he likes as things change, but I'm feeling a bit behind. So hopefully this post will at least capture what life is like for "almost two" Dylan.

On days Dylan and I are home together, I try to mix in something fun, something productive (for me), and plenty of playing. Today we started with a game of baseball in the yard. Dylan loves his "red bat" and for some reason really wanted to play baseball (at 7:30 AM)... {Yes, I realize he's holding the bat upside down, but I pick my battles... Maybe someday I'll post a video of him banging it on the ground saying "Hey batter batter..." It's worth it.}


The we played animals and cars while I got ready. Dylan's animal box is the current favorite of all his toys. He usually packs them all onto his stool, but lately he's been "hiding" the animals in the trees...


Once we were both ready to go, we headed out for some "baby donuts" (aka donut holes). {Don't worry, Mom, we don't eat donuts often at all.} Dylan entertained everyone in the shop... He walked along the donut case going, "Not baby donut, not baby donut, not baby donut...BABY DONUT!!" as he looked for the donut holes. I snapped a quick picture to share the baby donut joy with Shane...


Then we headed to the grocery store. Dylan currently feels the need to select two toys to take with us wherever we go. Usually they stay in the car, but the cow and sheep accompanied us inside. Dylan requested blackberries, but I couldn't bring myself to pay $3+ for a six ounce pack...

Then we came home and Dylan helped me cook. He loves watching what we're doing on the kitchen counters. He stands on a chair and watches, asking questions along the way. Today he helped me put green onions in the food processor, and then learned that the food processor is not scary (especially when he gets to push the button).

Once dinner was prepped, we went out back for some water fun. Now that it's kind of cooling off here (i.e. not quite 100 degrees), I'm excited to get him back outside as much as possible. We played in the sprinklers and "painted" the sidewalk with water.


Then we headed inside for some lunch... Refried black beans, cheese, and some fruit. Dylan was nice enough to share with Triceratops :)


After lunch we looked at pictures and video of our family on the computer for a while. Then we got ready for nap time. This week we got How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? and The Grumpy Dump Truck from the library. Dylan thinks the dump truck book is hilarious and he loves dinosaurs, so he won't go to bed until both are read...

And now, he's sleeping... Once he's up, we'll take a walk to the mailbox and then blow bubbles out front until Shane gets home.

I love my days at home...

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Conversation in Target

Ever since we bought Dylan a talking T.Rex at the dollar spot in Target (talking = horrible screeching sound we didn't know it made until we bought it), Dylan regularly requests a trip there when asked what he wants to do. On Monday, we stopped there for a few things, and had the following conversation:

Dylan (pointing to a fruit smoothie pouch): I want eat it.

Me: We have to buy it first.

Dylan: Pay for it.

Me: Yes, we need to pay for it.

Dylan: I pay for it. Dilly pay for it.

Me: Oh, you're going to pay for it? Do you have money?

Dylan: Yep.

Me: Where's your money?

Dylan: Pig.

Me: Where's your pig?

Dylan: (Pauses to think)...Home...money pig home...


It was fun to watch his little mind put the pieces together. Hopefully he'll keep offering to pay for his toys and food...this could work out nicely for us.

Monday, August 1, 2011

True love

Dylan absolutely loves our iPad. In fact, he thinks it's his and asks to play it at least once a day. In all truth, it is great for him. He's learned animal names/sounds, shapes, colors, names of fruits, how to put together puzzles, and how to play memory match all through iPad apps. It's quite impressive really...

Last week Shane had to visit Dallas, New York, and Chicago in a 6-day period, so he took the iPad with him for entertainment on his flights. Dylan was okay with Shane being gone for six days, but he was not a fan of the iPad going on the same adventure. Here's what happened by day three:



(In reality, he doesn't act like this when he can't have the iPad. This was just a bad day for him. His nap was bad and it was almost time for dinner, so he was at his worst point of the day... In fact, he fell asleep in the car five minutes after this video was taken, but we thought it was too funny not to share.)

Monday, July 25, 2011

Fearless

Dylan's earned this nickname this summer... He likes playing in the water, but he LOVES playing in pools. He loves putting his face in the water, thinks it's funny when he goes under, and is not afraid to jump in:



What didn't get caught on camera was Dylan jumping off the attached spa, which was at least three feet out of the water. He didn't even flinch when Shane put him on top of it and told him to jump...

I love that he's so excited to swim and happy that he's not afraid, but it puts me on edge. So far he's been pretty good to only jump in where there's a parent and in our last swimming adventure he actually kicked his feet and moved his arms when he accidentally walked off the step and into deeper water (I was right there with him, I just wanted to see what he'd do).

Thank goodness for pools, sprinklers, and splash pads... I'm not sure how else we'd survive the summer!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Adventures in finger painting

Today was a bad nap day for Dylan...which meant we had a lot of afternoon to fill. I decided to try out some homemade finger paints that I found here yesterday**. I stripped Dylan down, covered him in sunscreen (anticipating some water play after the painting) and let him loose.

BEFORE:
(After mixing up the paint base, I realized I only had red, green, and a little bit of yellow food coloring left...that's why my colors all look similar.)

DURING:
I wondered if Dylan would have issues with the paint on his hands. He'd only paint with his thumbs at first and was staying on the paper. After he seemed to be getting bored with the paper, I told him to paint his knee. Once he discovered he could paint himself, he didn't care so much about the texture.



AFTER:
Eventually he discovered that painting my legs was WAY more fun than painting himself. He thought it was so funny...


When he was done, I hosed him down and then let him play in the sprinklers for a while. It would've been more fun if it wasn't so hot here, but I'm glad we found something new to do to break up the day.

(**NOTE: I skipped on the dish soap that the recipe recommends because I was worried Dylan would try to eat the paint. However, if you are going to paint anything other than paper with this, I would recommend it as well. After spraying down my legs, I still had faint colors all over them. It all came off with soap, but I think the soap would help it all wash off the first time...)

Friday, July 15, 2011

Happy Face

Ever since Dylan learned that he could look at pictures and video of himself on our camera and Flip, we haven't been able to get good pictures of him. Once he sees the camera, he starts running toward it saying his name over and over again. Case in point (in case you couldn't tell, Dylan calls himself "Ninin"):

{As I put together this video, Dylan sat on my lap saying "More ninin? More ninin?" over and over again.... He loves himself.}

Lately, if I tell him I want to take a picture he'll nod his head in agreement. Then I ask him for his happy face, which leads to this:


I've resorted to telling him to say cheese when I want to take pictures, which actually yielded one decent picture at the park yesterday:


He may not be good at his toothy, dimple-filled smiles anymore, but he's sure getting good at silly faces:


In other news, my goal is to add a few more updates to the blog...including dance parties, our little fish, and the mailbox...so stay tuned.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Water lover

I know...it's been a while. Instead of writing a super long post trying to catch up on life the last few months, I thought I'd share the highlight. Dylan turned 18 months old over a week ago. He's developing a good vocabulary and a funny little sense of humor. He's a clingy mama's boy, but he knows his dad is WAY more fun (as I type this they're wrestling on the bed...). I wrote down all the words he says before his 18-month appointment, but once I got to 50 I stopped. His current favorites are Yeah, No, More, Mommy, "my Daddy", and buckle. In case you care, here are his 18-month stats:

Weight: 28 lb 2 oz (80th percentile)
Height: 31 3/4 inches (30th percentile)
Head: 48 1/2 cm (77 percentile)

In other news, this boy loves water. It doesn't matter how cold it is, whether it's pouring over his head or spraying in his eyes. If he can play in it, he's in heaven. These videos were all taken in the last five days...













This splash pad is just down the street from us. I have a feeling we'll be spending many summer days there. These rings are Dylan's favorite. In case you can't tell, he closes his eyes as he runs through, which leads to at least a few of these each time: